User blog:Bern Unit/Bern Unit - Now it is Personal
Bern and Jillian did take some time to talk about a bit of the past and challenges that arose for both of them. Jillian was able to express her hurt for Bern leaving them, drawing a small but obvious comparison to how their father left them. Bern felt the sting of the comments but knew they were accurate and deserved. She got out what she needed and they both wipes away the tears that began to form in their eyes. Both acknowledging that the feelings were out and over with, allowing them to move on to other, more positive topics. “I’m glad you are doing okay now Berny” and she smiled at him, “Thanks sis, I am glad too. It’s been a hell of road with its share of twists and turns”. Jill looked at him and asked “when did you know you were done with it?” Bern sat and thought long and hard about that question and arrived at “I think about a 2 months into it but at that point I had dug myself into such a hole that it was easier to just keep going. I got arrested for some pretty stupid stuff like trespassing, small thefts, stuff like that just so I could either stay warm or meet some basic needs I had. It became more about survival than fun.” The two sat and talked more after Jill had put her daughter to bed. Jill explained the series of events that led to her meeting the guy that was her daughter’s father and how he abandoned them but added that she is better off without him, “I don’t want people like that in mine or her lives”. Morning came and the smell of coffee filled the apartment. Jill came out of her room and found Bern making breakfast for them. Milk for his niece was being warmed in the water on the stove. “Did you sleep at all last night?” she asked Bern. “Um…No…I just looked at the city all night out the window there…I guess to make sure that it actually came up”. She looked at the projects he had going on in the kitchen “you seem to know your way around back there…”. Bern shrugged “Yeah, I guess….I picked up some things here and there”, She looked at the milk in the warm water “You do a lot of toddler feeding out there when you are not setting criminals a blaze?” as she chuckled as did Bern “um…no, I just wanted to help and didn’t know what else to do.” Breakfast was had and Jillian got herself and her daughter together as she went off to work adding “ I am dropping her off at the sitters and I will be back around 7pm, if anything comes up….just leave a note or something, k?” Bern nodded. Bern suited himself up and took to the skies to make his rounds around the city. Things felt quiet….well quieter than they had been in a while. There was still plenty of Brainiac bottled buildings and incursion zones to contend with. It seemed like you take down one and two more pop up somewhere else. Just after clearing out an area by the Queensland Boardwalk there was an explosion in the distance. Turning his attention in the direction of the blast Bern headed towards it to see what it was. Bern froze in his tracks as he looked down on Metropolis General Hospital, the west side of the hospital had a large gaping, smoking hole in it. Only one thought went through his mind….”Jill…”. Bern flew down to the scene of the blast to find patients, guards, doctors and other hospital staff franticly trying to find shelter and safety. He entered the hospital through the blasted wall and began surveying the scene “JILL!?!?” he yelled with no response. He continued through the halls looking for his sister. It wasn’t pretty in there, there were those who were very badly injured, some dead. Those that could were tending to the injured and trying to get them to safety. Another blast, it came from above and the ceilings rumbled, debris fell on those below but the floor held. Bern leaped out the window and flew to the scene, what he found was all but pleasing to him. Lex Luthor, adorned with his battle suit was holding his sister by the neck. He made his way out onto the upper levels observation deck. The cops below were trained on him as were the helicopters above. With the other hand Luthor was holding an infant’s hospital bed with the infant in it. Bern’s heart was racing and he felt himself emitting massive amounts of heat. “LET HER GO!!” Bern yelled down to the madman. Luthor looked at him and smirked “really??? Just like that?” as he held her over the edge of the deck. Bern’s eyes flashed a bright white and he reached out as if to say “NO!” Luthor began speaking “You see my boy, I cannot allow this kind of work to continue, all of these aliens and other worldly people being helped and repaired here are simply not going to go well for the world as we know it. I mean for all we know they could be helping the next great threat to this planet”. Bern looked at him “Well I didn’t see you getting patched up in there so I doubt that last bit”. Luthor chuckled “Oh, you poor thing…you yourself know that there are those in this hospital so unstable that they have to be quarantined for everyone safety, you know what that is like….not being able to get too close to people in fear you may hurt them….”. Luthor continued his rant about purging the world of those who he referred to as “Meta’s” and added “Now you my friend must decide the life you want, do you want a life of normalcy? One of comfort and being with those you love or do you intend to live life as a one of ‘them’ and undoubtedly cause more pain through your attempts to fight whatever fight you choose?” Bern was on high alert knowing that Luthor could drop one of them at any moment. Luthor looked at Bern and said “so choose” and he threw Jill and the child up in the air in and opposite directions. Time slowed for a brief moment for Bern as he watch the two of them travel through the air and for a split second Bern was paralyzed. Bern shot towards the child in the bed and grabbed them. As quickly as he could he headed towards his sister. He could hear the screams of panic rocketing from her throat. She was reaching out to him as he raced towards her Bern could see the ground getting closer to her. With an arm stretched out and racing towards her he was able to grab her hand and pull her up but not before he felt her bounce off the ground. Panic and adrenaline coursed through Bern as he handed the child off to the one of the M.P.D. officers on site. Bern laid his sister on the ground, he could see that she was breathing but not responding to him at all. Medics rushed towards them and surrounded his sister. All Bern could do was stand up and back away as they worked. A stretcher arrived for her, as the placed her on it and wheeled her into an ambulance. The EMT looked at Bern and said “Midtown General” indicating where they were taking her. Hours passed as Bern sat in the waiting room of the ER, scenes of Luthor played through his head, the sound Jillian’s body made as she bounced off the street echoed in his ears. Finally the ER doors open and a doctor approached Bern. He stood and looked at the doctor as if to say “Well…?” The doctor looked at him and began speaking “She’s alive….not conscious, but alive. She has some back and cranial damage from the impact, had you been a second later I don’t think she would have been able to make it this far. She is breathing on her own but she is unresponsive to our efforts to communicate with her. She has some medicine to help with whatever pain she is in at the moment. We are just going to have to give her time to heal and see where she goes from here.” Bern nodded in understanding and with that, knowing his sister was as well as could be right now, took off out of the ER and took to the skies. The giant “L” on the side of the building grew closer and closer and finally Bern plowed through the wall to see Luthor standing there as if he was expecting him in the same battle suit. “You’re late my friend”, Bern said nothing in return and began walking towards Lex, hammer at the ready, ready to take his head clean off his shoulders. The last thing Bern remembered seeing was a bright green light and hearing Luthor say something like “Dumb as a rock….”. Bern’s eyes slowly opened but everything around him was so blurry and the voices and sounds all were muffled. Someone was looking down on him but he was unable to make out who it was. ~To Be Continued~ Category:Blog posts